Business will renovate two downtown buildings

Published: Friday, January 25, 2013 at 04:20 PM.

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Once a hardware store and a shoe store, the downtown Burlington building at 347 S. Main Street will soon be home to The Treasure House Shoppes, a locally established mix of consignment and independently owned shops.

The Treasure House has been in business for eight years, and owner Mary Anne Butler has been in at its current location, at 1358 S. Church Street, for about four years.

Now, she said, “We want to be downtown.”

Butler’s store, with a business model like an antique store, sells consigned items and also features 25 to 35 “shoppes” or independently owned dealers. “We were the first ones in Burlington to have this concept,” she said.

The move is convenient for Butler, since she’s relocating from a building she rented into two she owns, built circa 1910. Butler owns both the building on Main Street, formerly Marilyn’s Shoes, and the one directly behind it at 346 S. Worth Street, facing Zack’s Hot Dogs.

Butler formerly leased the Worth Street building to Nest, but the store has since moved to Mebane. Since she owns both buildings, Butler decided to tear down the wall between the buildings, giving her new store 7,000 square feet, including the second floor of the Worth Street side.

However, when Butler knocked out the wall two weeks ago, she was shocked to realize the two buildings’ floors didn’t meet up – the floor of the Main Street side is 5 feet higher than that of the Worth Street side.

Once a hardware store and a shoe store, the downtown Burlington building at 347 S. Main Street will soon be home to The Treasure House Shoppes, a locally established mix of consignment and independently owned shops.

The Treasure House has been in business for eight years, and owner Mary Anne Butler has been in at its current location, at 1358 S. Church Street, for about four years.

Now, she said, “We want to be downtown.”

Butler’s store, with a business model like an antique store, sells consigned items and also features 25 to 35 “shoppes” or independently owned dealers. “We were the first ones in Burlington to have this concept,” she said.

The move is convenient for Butler, since she’s relocating from a building she rented into two she owns, built circa 1910. Butler owns both the building on Main Street, formerly Marilyn’s Shoes, and the one directly behind it at 346 S. Worth Street, facing Zack’s Hot Dogs.

Butler formerly leased the Worth Street building to Nest, but the store has since moved to Mebane. Since she owns both buildings, Butler decided to tear down the wall between the buildings, giving her new store 7,000 square feet, including the second floor of the Worth Street side.

However, when Butler knocked out the wall two weeks ago, she was shocked to realize the two buildings’ floors didn’t meet up – the floor of the Main Street side is 5 feet higher than that of the Worth Street side.

Butler said Plageman Architecture is working on a floorplan design to remedy the situation, and she’s already worked with the Burlington Downtown Corporation to spruce up the outside of the Main Street side.

“I worked with her to develop the awning and façade scheme,” said Anne Morris, executive of the BDC. “She’s already painted the Main Street side,” and that renovation was completed using a grant through the BDC’s “Quick Fix Façade” program.

Morris was also the one who suggested Butler keep both entrances, one adjacent to The Old Timey Place and the other neighbors with the brand new Sara-Anne Photography studio.

Though the building’s electricity and utilities will be updated, Butler said, “We’re trying to keep everything as original as possible.” She said, “We’re going to go with the historic colors,” and definitely plans to keep the “Marilyn’s Shoes” inlaid sign at the shop’s Main Street entrance.

Butler also wants to display the yellowed 1961 building permits for “Marilyn Shoe Co.” which are currently nailed to one of the inside walls.

Another original facet Butler’s keeping – and improving – is the building’s atrium, which can be seen from all levels of the building. She’s replacing the glass, and Morris said The Treasure House will be the only commercial building downtown to have such a feature.

Morris is confident that The Treasure House’s established name will bring people to downtown Burlington and said, “We’re very excited about her plans.”

Butler said she’s aiming to be moved out of her current location in March, and to open downtown in April.